Taweret was the hippopotamus goddess who protected pregnant women, mothers, and children in ancient Egypt.
Her name is commonly translated as “she who is great.” Taweret was usually shown as a pregnant, bipedal female hippopotamus with a woman’s breasts, a lion’s limbs, and the tail of a crocodile. The combination made her both nurturing and fearsome: the dangerous animals represented protective power capable of driving away evil.
Taweret was especially important in household religion rather than through one dominant national temple cult. Amulets, household objects, ivory magical wands, and birth-related ritual equipment often carried her image. Her role connected pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, fertility, and the protection of infants. She could also be linked with the life-giving inundation of the Nile and with purification after death.
Taweret is sometimes confused with Ipet, Reret, or Hedjet, other protective hippopotamus goddesses whose functions overlap. Bes, one of her frequent companions, was a dwarf-like protective deity, not a hippopotamus goddess. Sekhmet and Hathor had important maternal or protective roles, but neither is the canonical answer to this description.